Flooring Choices for living room, kitchen, entries

[2squared]

What flooring would be good choices for a young active family?  We are looking at putting one flooring choice through most of our main level -- entry ways, kitchen, dining, and living room -- since all the spaces run together.  We live in MN, so we want something that can be warm and cozy in the winter.  Tile makes me shiver just thinking about it in January.

 

Our "new" house is a late-1960s medium-priced house for the area.  We aren't worried about resale or trendiness -- just our comfort and happiness.

 

 

[Ellie]

Hardwood. Real hardwood, not Pergo-type stuff. I have hardwood for my whole downstairs. Love.it. Use a few throw rugs, especially mats in front of doors; put felt pads on the legs/feet of all furniture (they're inexpensive), and you're good to go. You need a canister vacuum cleaner (or the attachment on an upright). Bona is an excellent cleaner, better than Murphy's Oil or vinegar.

[DawnM]

I hate hardwood in the kitchen. Just hate it. It is about 20 years old or so and has some soft spots near the sink, fridge, and dishwasher where water has dripped.

 

I pick tile for any space that has water, bathrooms and kitchens. We have travertine tile in our bathroom and that is what I want in the kitchen. It is a tan and goes with hardwoods in the living room and dining room just fine.

[Ellie]

Sorry you had a bad experience. :-( I have hardwood in my kitchen and love it. Possibly mine works because our house is on a slab and not on a foundation. Or perhaps yours was not finished well? (i.e., multiple coats of polyurethane). Our floor is about 15 years old and still going strong.

 

We have also installed hardwood in our downstairs bathroom. :-)

[Moxie]

We plan on getting all new flooring in the next few years. We're putting tiles that look like wood in the rooms with water and real wood everywhere else. Several areas already have tile so we'll leave those. Then, I'm going to get some fun rugs if we feel like it is too cold. Mostly, we want the allergy-inducing carpet gone.

[PrairieSong]

Definitely hardwood.  We put hickory in our kitchen, dining room, living room, entry, and hallway and we love it.  We just did it this year, though, so I can't testify to years of loving it.  It beats carpet, that's for sure!

 

As Ellie said, put down a few throw rugs, mats in front of doors, etc.  

[texasmama]

We have Bruce hardwood floors throughout most of our first floor.  We put tile in the bathrooms and laundry room.  I would not hardwood a bathroom, personally.  We do have hardwoods in our kitchen and in three of the bedrooms.  It is pretty, easy to clean and fairly durable.  The kids are hard on it, though, and it is scratched.  It is not forgiving with furniture being scooted.  We have an area rug and throw rugs, but we would do well to get a larger area rug, which would provide some protection.  As I understand these types of hardwoods can be refinished once (???) so we will wait until the kids are out and then do it, likely.  In spite of much wear and tear over 13 years, it still looks very nice.

[Guest]

All the people I know who have hardwood flooring love it, but it is a lot of upkeep and easily damaged, as others have said. I know someone who's dog totally scratched the whole floor up the first week they got it. And my mom is constantly cleaning it and cautioning people to be careful. A little too much work for me! We have tile and love it. We don't live where it snows, though. :) We have a huge, fluffy rug right in the middle of the family room. My dh says he'd rather lay on that than sit on the couch, it's so plush, and adds a ton of warmth to the room. I think those wood-plank tiles are pretty cool and would look at those if we ever decide to replace our flooring.

[laughing lioness]

Hardwood. We have it on the entire first floor and the entire 2nd, with the exception of the 2nd floor bathroom, which is tiled (dh did that too). The first floor bathroom is wood- it's just a pocket door away from the kitchen.

 

I don't see that it's tons of upkeep. I sweep several times a week (we live in the country, so it's that or vacuuming and I'd rather sweep) and just spot wash, then mop about once a month (or less, if you are me!) While we do have some dings and scratches I look at the old wood (87 yrs old) and it's different colors with some blemishes but it's lovely- really, truly beautiful. 

 

 We have area rugs in front of the stove and sink- the kitchen wood is 3 yrs old, the rest of the 2 levels is almost 90. We refinished it all in the last couple of years and put 4 coats on the first floor and 5 on the second (we paid for the first floor and did the 2nd ourselves). We love, love, love it. We have area rugs throughout so it is warm and homey - we have the same climate as you, OP, and I still love it in the winter-time! I just posted pics on another thread, but I'm not above 2 floor brags in one week so here's pictures  :001_smile: : Here and here.

[Parrothead]

Hardwood everywhere but the kitchen. Tiles or stone in the kitchen. Throw rugs or bigger if you want in any of the areas.

[lamolina]

We used to live in MN. If you decide to use tile anywhere I would highly recommend first putting in the coils that will hear your floor! Because you are right, in the winter those tiles feel very cold!

[Pawz4me]

Ehhh . . . I don't think there is any such thing as perfect flooring.

 

I grew up with hardwood and had it in our last house.  Not impressed.

 

In this house we have Pergo-type laminate flooring in the foyer and the downstairs half bath.  I have been *very* impressed with it.  It seems to be almost indestructible.

 

I love tile, but dealing with grout issues?  Not so much.

 

There are lots of really attractive linoleum patterns available nowadays.  Stuff that looks very much like tile or hardwood.  I wouldn't rule something like that out.

[Moxie]

Ehhh . . . I don't think there is any such thing as perfect flooring.

 

I grew up with hardwood and had it in our last house.  Not impressed.

 

In this house we have Pergo-type laminate flooring in the foyer and the downstairs half bath.  I have been *very* impressed with it.  It seems to be almost indestructible.

 

I love tile, but dealing with grout issues?  Not so much.

 

There are lots of really attractive linoleum patterns available nowadays.  Stuff that looks very much like tile or hardwood.  I wouldn't rule something like that out.

I didn't realize they still made linoleum. I honestly can't think of one person I know that has linoleum floors.

[AK_Mom4]

We have a laminate floor in the kitchen and laundry/mud room - like Pergo but higher quality.  I love the fact that water just wipes up.  Same with snow, mud and dog hair.  It also is much quieter than a hardwood floor and the dogs' nails don't scratch it up.

 

Currently the dining room and living room are carpeted, but when we replace the carpeting in the not-too-distant future, I am going to do the dining room in the same laminate and just have carpet in the living room. The clean up is SOOOOO easy.

[Pawz4me]

I didn't realize they still made linoleum. I honestly can't think of one person I know that has linoleum floors.

 

Maybe I should've said vinyl flooring?  I guess that's the more up to date term.  For all I know vinyl flooring is somehow different than linoleum, but it seems the same to me.

 

ETA:  Wilkipedia says "Linoleum as a floor covering has been largely replaced with polyvinyl chloride (yet still colloquially known as "linoleum"), which has similar properties of flexibility and durability, but which has greater brightness and translucency and which is relatively less flammable."

 

So I guess I'm not entirely out-of-place in referring to vinyl flooring as linoleum.  :lol:

 

Here are some images.  I think a lot of the patterns available are very nice.

[Pegasus]

I didn't realize they still made linoleum. I honestly can't think of one person I know that has linoleum floors.

 

We had vinyl sheet installed for our entire main floor living space.  It replaced carpet, older vinyl, tile, and two different wood floor products in the various rooms.  The floor is made to look like stone tiles and we've had visitors be fooled until they lean down to touch the floor.  We love it.  It looks nice and is the easier floor to maintain.

 

My MIL loved it so much she had a very similar product installed in her home.

 

[MomtoCandJ]

I have thought about putting pergo type floors throughout our mobile home, except the bedrooms. Anyone with experience??

[2squared]

Thanks for all the chatter, ladies.  I'm soaking in all your experiences.

 

My plan is to put the same flooring through the living room, dining room, and kitchen b/c I think I have to turn a piece of the living room into a dining room.  The prior family had an eat-in kitchen, but my family can't eat in the same small space.  My solution is to use part of the long living room, but if I have different flooring between the rooms it just becomes choppy and weird looking.  I wouldn't know where to draw artificial room boundaries, especially since we don't live in the house yet.  Then, of course, in a year or two I am going to have dh take out a couple walls in the kitchen area so I need to take that into consideration as well.

 

[EKS]

Hardwood with rugs for coziness. 

[LaxMom]

We have original (1860s) hardwood throughout, and put cork in the kitchen. It's beautiful, soft under foot, warm, and forgiving.

 

On linoleum: real linoleum (linseed based) is only available as sheet flooring, professionally installed, last I saw. You can get an amazing array of tiles that look like the old linoleum, though, and make really neat patterns.

[kroe1]

I saw a new home yesterday that had the most gorgeous flooring.  All the main thoroughfare areas and living spaces had ceramic tile with two wide planks of a dark hardwood surrounding each tile.  Then as one entered a bedroom, there was only the dark hardwood.  In the bathrooms and kitchen, however, the tile took over.  It was to die for good-looking. 

 

Here is a link to a similar floor:

 

http://trivalleyfloors.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/customfloor-300x297.gif

 

 

[horsellian]

On linoleum: real linoleum (linseed based) is only available as sheet flooring, professionally installed, last I saw. You can get an amazing array of tiles that look like the old linoleum, though, and make really neat patterns.

You can get real linoleum as tiles - they're sold under the brand name Marmoleum (at least they are in the UK) - they even make tiles that click together.

[Melissa in Australia]

Hardwood. My whole house is Australian Hardwood except the bathrooms, which are linoleum

[GSOchristie]

I can speak from experience, laminate scratches much more easily than I thought. My kids have scratched ours with toys, and I have scratched it with furniture, even though we have pads. I guess I thought it was more durable but I'm constantly telling ny boys, "don't push that vehicle on the floor!" and Piper, "don't push your cart in there!". To me, those things shouldn't have to be forbidden.

[RoughCollie]

Marmoleum (sheet or Click) if it fit in with my decorating scheme and if I liked the way it looks:  http://www.forbo-flooring.us/Residential-Flooring/Products/

 

Distressed wood floors (very hard wood) in a light or medium color, finished with something that is not high gloss.  That way, if it gets scratched, it won't be obvious.  Dark wood shows every little thing, and high gloss finish has to be kept up daily to look good.

 

Cork (sheet); that's the kind that lasts 100 years with proper upkeep.  http://www.forbo-flooring.us/Residential-Flooring/Products/

 

Personally, I'd get tile for kitchen and bathrooms, and choose a grout color that won't look dingy or dirty over time, or I'd choose sheet vinyl flooring.

 

For warmth in winter, I would put down area rugs.  They can be cleaned, rolled up, and stored in the summer, if you have space for that.

 

I would not use a flooring in a kitchen or bathroom which will be ruined if a pipe or appliance leaks, no matter how waterproof the company says it is, and even if the planks are glued together.  This includes laminate flooring (Pergo), or flooring made of clickable planks (Marmoleum Click or cork planks).  Hidden leaks can originate both above and below a floor or in the walls, and the planks will delaminate. 

 

Also, I would do a lot of research to make sure the flooring I bought will last as long as I want it to.  I would be extra careful about who I chose to install the flooring, too.  Check the warranties and make sure that whoever you buy it from gives excellent customer service to customers who have problems with the product.  By the time you are done researching, you will wish you were a Pilgrim who had hardpacked dirt floors that merely had to be swept daily.

[craftyerin]

Well, I have the opposite issues, climate-wise, but I'm putting in a new floor in my living room (contractor coming today!) and I'm going with wood-look tile.  I ADORE it.  

 

Here are some hits on pinterest for wood grain tile floors http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=wood%20tile

 

We had laminate in that room, but had to rip it up due to a flood caused by a hot water heater leak.  In the rest of my house I have various tiles and laminate in the bedroom.  Tile is pretty standard for main-area flooring here, due to the heat and the risk of flooding.  I don't mind it, but I prefer the look of wood, so I'm excited about this new tile!  I don't mind laminate in general, either, but our laminate in bedrooms is cheap and scratches like crazy.  We had nicer laminate in my old house and it looked fantastic.  There is a wide variety among laminates.  

[Annie G]

I saw a new home yesterday that had the most gorgeous flooring.  All the main thoroughfare areas and living spaces had ceramic tile with two wide planks of a dark hardwood surrounding each tile.  Then as one entered a bedroom, there was only the dark hardwood.  In the bathrooms and kitchen, however, the tile took over.  It was to die for good-looking. 

 

Here is a link to a similar floor:

 

http://trivalleyfloors.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/customfloor-300x297.gif

I've never seen anything like that before! Thanks for the pic- I was having such trouble envisioning what it looked like. 

[City Mouse]

I have hardwood in the kitchen and thought I would like it, but I don't like it and now his we had taken it out. We did have it refinished before we moved in two years ago, and now it looks as bad as when the house had been sitting empty for several years. I will admit that it is not moderne hardwood flori g hat you might purchase today. I think it is just light colored pine boards used as flooring.

 

If you dont have the money for hardwood, or want something durable for the kids, when we redid some of the floors(like down to the dirt) in our now house we ran out of money so we went with vinyl flooring. We got floating, self stck planks that look like wood. It was very easy for my DH to install. It handles mud, snow, and pets well, and it is very easy to clean. Best of all, when the contractor talks about having to cut through the floor to work on the foundation I am not horrified at the thought of running the floor.

We sort of plan to replace the floor with something "nicer" when the kids are gone, but that is many years from now.

[Rebecca VA]

Can you set up an informal eating area in the dining room?  We have had to do that.  We have a galley kitchen (long and narrow), a good-sized dining room, and a long, large formal living room.  What we are doing (renovations are underway) is:

 

Kitchen will stay the same size and shape.  We don't want to tear down the plaster walls in the house.

 

An arch (wider than existing doorway) will be carved between the kitchen and dining room, making the rooms feel more connected without having to tear down walls.

 

I wanted the dining room to be as cozy as a Starbucks, while still retaining some of its formal elements (chandelier, built-in corner china cabinets).  We'll use a round table in the dining room (pushed near the front of the room, between the corner cabinets).  A flat-screen TV will be on one wall, with a buffet underneath.  The top of the buffet will hold napkins, salt and pepper, extra silverware, etc.  Across from the TV will be a loveseat and a comfortable chair.  There'll also be a bookshelf in the room, and we'll put carpet tiles on the floor.  We'll call it a breakfast room rather than a dining room.

 

We also have a larger dining table that we chose not to use in the dining room.  That will go in the living room, under a large window that looks out onto the backyard (it's a pretty view).  The table will be used for entertaining guests, for working on puzzles, or other tasks.  So basically, we'll have a dining table in the dining room and in the living room.

 

We're still working on flooring ideas, which is why I clicked on this thread.  I wanted to see what people are saying.  My husband wants engineered hardwood (you can't use regular hardwood on a concrete slab because of moisture issues), but I'm worried about warping.  If we get the engineered hardwood, we will get commercial-grade, because it's more sturdy.

[brookspr]

We put wide untreated hardwood planks in our house when we lived in CT.  It was an old house (1870) so when we installed it, we purposely left gaps (larger than usual) between the boards to make it look rustic.  We also distressed it by pounding on it with heavy chains, a board that had nails sticking out of it and also a hard wire brush.  Then we stained it and oiled it instead of putting any kind of coating on it that would wear out over time.  If the dog or kids scratched it, a little oil on the scratch and it was another distress mark.  We LOVED it.

 

Now we are in a different house and are re-doing both bathrooms.  Both rooms will have the ceramic tile that looks like wood planks with any grout color but white :)  It is durable and looks good.  I would put it in the rest of the house, too, if we didn't have 10 other projects to do first.

 

 

[Angie in VA]

When we built our home we opted for no carpet. It was the right decision for us, b/c it'd be about time to replace it now! What a pain and expense that would be. Whew! We went w/ porcelain tile in the bathrooms and kitchen and hardwood everywhere else. We love it!!!

 

You said you'd be so cold in January w/ tile floors, but is radiant floor heating an option? It's easiest to install during construction, but there are options for existing structures.

 

http://www.thermosoft.com/thermotile2?clk=4k2Fi1HYBWavq1usP3lnR91s&gclid=CIvqm43i2bgCFdGd4AodZyUA1w

 

http://www.radiant-floor-heating.com/

 

http://www.homedepot.com/Flooring-Under-Floor-Heating/h_d1/N-5yc1vZapte/h_d2/Navigation?searchNav=true&AID=11210757&PID=7149033&SID=skim52061X1266454X635772f484a0983eb8bf346ab938bb47&cm_mmc=CJ-_-7149033-_-11210757&cj=true

 

http://www.uponor-usa.com/Header/Systems/Heating/For-Homeowners/Overview.aspx

 

 

We roughed in our basement for hydronic radiant floor heating w/ PEX tubing under the concrete, b/c that is the cheapest RFH, but we have yet to hook it up. (And when I say, we, I mean that. Dh, our dc and I put it in! We also did a LOT of work on the house ourselves, and passed every inspection, thak you very much. I can't say that for some Class A contractors who worked on my house!) One day we will hook it up. :) For existing structures, electric RFH may be easier to install.

 

Look at me, going off on radiant floor heating. You'll have to excuse me. I'm a weirdo who built a house that is pretty energy-efficient. In fact, our downstairs AC unit died the last day of May. We have yet to repair it (other things came up: broken lawn mowers, cat almost died, desk top computer died, etc.) and we have done fine w/o it. In Virginia! In this hot summer!

[gardenmom5]

I had hardwood in all of those.  it is fine in the winter for us walking barefoot.  most of the time.  my dishwasher leaked and the water went UNDER the floor in the kitchen. it now has quartz tile.  at least homeowners insurance paid for the floor.    (I now have a metal tray under my dishwasher, so if it leaks - we will know and it can't go underneath the floor.)

 

what has amazed me is it's not as cold as the porcelain or ceramic tile in the new house up the street - those floors were really cold. it's about the same temp as my wood floors. It also absorbs heat from my spots, and sometimes it even feels like I'm walking on soapstone - which is a cool (as in I like this) texture.